Sunday, April 06, 2008

Clintnocchio

Hillary Clinton has been caught fibbing again. In her campaign, she has been telling the story of an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee.

However, the hospital says the woman was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured.

Here's the Clinton response. Spokesman, Mo Elleithee, said candidates would frequently retell stories relayed to them, vetting them when possible. “In this case, we did try but were not able to fully vet it,” Mr. Elleithee said. “If the hospital claims it did not happen that way, we respect that.”

But, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit hospital, said the Clinton campaign had never contacted the hospital to check the accuracy of the story.

Hillary's personal stories need to be vetted, like the one she invented about how she and her daughter, Chelsea, ran for cover under hostile fire shortly after her plane landed in Tuzla, Bosnia. Perhaps her staff is too busy verifying Hillary's tales to spend any time checking the accuracy of stories told by others.